June 18, 2025
Alireza Doroudi, a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, has given up his effort to fight his deportation.
Before his arrest in his apartment on March 25, Doroudi was about to complete a degree in mechanical engineering and was soon to be married to a fellow Iranian student at the university.
Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, seen in Alabama before
his arrest by US immigration officials.
Now, the man who came to the United States over two years ago to chase his version of the “American Dream” will soon be going back to Iran, a choice he made after being detained by immigration officers for 42 days. During a court hearing May 8, Doroudi asked an immigration judge in Jena, Louisiana, to allow him to deport himself back to Iran, which Judge Maithe Gonzalez granted.
Despite the US Department of Homeland Security labeling Doroudi as posing “significant security concerns,” no evidence was ever produced to suggest he was a threat. In fact, with the exception of a speeding ticket in Greene County, Alabama, Doroudi has no criminal record.
David Rozas, Doroudi’s attorney, said that during the hearing, Doroudi looked at him and said, “I love this country, but they don’t want me here so I will go home.”
Rozas said, “In the face of this legal uncertainty and prolonged detention, Mr. Doroudi chose to leave voluntarily. This is not only a loss for him personally, but a setback for our system. When due process is delayed or denied, when charges are sustained without standing, and when individuals are forced to choose between uncertain length of detention in a country they feel no longer wants them, or leaving voluntarily, we must ask what kind of precedent we are setting not just for foreign students, but for fairness and justice in America.”
In January 2023, Doroudi came to America through a student visa he acquired from the US Embassy in Oman. Within a few months, his visa had been inexplicably revoked, but his lawyers and a student group assured him his legal status was sound, and he could remain in the country as long as he was a student.
At the time of his arrest, he was reportedly applying for permanent residency in the US.
“The only charges brought against Mr. Doroudi was the revocation of his F-1 student visa and an allegation of ‘not being in status.’ However, the documentation submitted regarding the visa revocation made it clear that the revocation would only take effect upon his departure from the United States, not while he remained here,” Rozas said.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) acknowledged this and indicated during the hearing [May 8] their intention to drop the charge. This acknowledges that the initial reason for arrest 45 days ago was an error.”
Rozas said Doroudi made the decision to self-deport after Judge Gonzalez required DHS to submit their claims in writing and refused to grant bond until it had been put in writing.
Doroudi, 32, remained in Jena after the hearing and no date has been set for his release.
Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani, Doroudi’s fiance, previously told CBS how difficult the whole ordeal had been on both of them and how they were not keen on remaining in the US anymore.
“Even if they let us stay, we would’ve completed our degrees and we would’ve left in the earliest time,” she said. “This is not a place to live. This is not a place to live the happy life and dream. This is not the freedom and American dream that they always talk about. It’s just something that is just for a group of people, not for everyone.”
Doroudi was set to complete his degree next year.
He was clearly most peeved that the US government held him in detention for six weeks before his hearing. “I didn’t deserve this. If they just sent me a letter asking me to appear in court, I would’ve come, because I didn’t do anything illegal. I stayed with their permission,” Doroudi said in a letter he dictated to Bajgani over the phone. “What was the reason for throwing me in jail?”
The judge who denied Doroudi bond in mid-April said he had failed to prove he wasn’t a national security threat. Rozas said he was flabbergasted at that because the government had not presented any evidence to support the allegation that Doroudi was a threat. Rozas pointed out that the basic rule of justice in the US is that the prosecution must prove an individual guilty; it is not the task of the individual to prove himself innocent.
More than 1,000 foreign students across the US had their visas revoked under Trump. They include some who protested the US policy on the war in Gaza. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has since reversed all those Gaza revocations. Doroudi was not a Gaza protester, and the prosecution never suggested he was.
It became apparent in the courtroom that Doroudi had just given up; weeks of being detained and treated like a common criminal had soured Doroudi on the “American dream,” which had turned into a nightmare.
The New York Times described what happened in the courtroom in heart-rending detail.
Rozas, one of Louisiana’s few immigration lawyers, told the Times he had urged Doroudi to fight his detention in federal court.
Doroudi did not want to. He missed his studies and was not doing well spending his days in a loud group dormitory behind fences and razor wire, his fiancee said. He told her that his vision and hearing were deteriorating, and that his mental health was suffering. And he had grown convinced, his lawyer said, that no matter what happened, the authorities would never let him out.
Rozas told the Times he had been seeing this more and more from clients in detention. People with strong cases for release, some of whom had lived in the United States for years, were giving up, as hearings were delayed for weeks and as they got the feeling that the country simply did not want them.
As Rozas prepared for the hearing, he received an email with some good news. The government had acknowledged in a filing that it did not have evidence to support the charge Doroudi had been arrested on— that he was in the country illegally on an expired visa. It was possible that Doroudi could walk free that day.
Bajgani was seated in the courtroom and looked at Doroudi as he entered in prison clothes. He looked like he had lost weight. “I don’t think this is very hopeful,” she said.
Judge Gonzalez entered the courtroom. Within minutes, she said she would sustain the first charge against Doroudi and was ordering his deportation.
Numa Metoyer, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security, explained to the judge that the government had actually been planning to drop that charge. The lawyers had reviewed the evidence and found it did not apply in Doroudi’s case until he left the country. But Metoyer said the second charge was still viable, concerning Doroudi’s current immigration status.
Rozas leaned over to Doroudi. The second charge wouldn’t stand, he whispered. His status was all in order. In federal court, “you win, 100 percent,” he said.
But Doroudi shook his head. “No, no, no,” he whispered.
The judge insisted that the government put its new position into writing. She announced there would be another hearing in two weeks.
“No, no,” Doroudi whispered.
Rozas asked the judge if Doroudi could be released on bond, but the judge cut him off. “That’s not the way this works,” she said. Rozas said he looked at his client and then turned to the judge. Doroudi was requesting to voluntarily leave the country. This was against his advice, Rozas explained. But Doroudi had had enough.
Judge Gonzalez asked Doroudi if this was really what he wanted.
“I came here to study in one of the best countries in the world,” he began, but the judge cut him off. She told him he needed to answer yes or no.
“Honestly, I don’t want to stay here anymore,” he said. “This place is not good for me. I want to go home.”
The judge interrupted again. Yes or no?
“Yes,” he said.
“You have been granted the privilege of voluntarily departing the United States,” Judge Gonzalez said, and then went over some of the logistical details.
“Is this a final decision for you?” she asked.
“Thank you,” Doroudi said.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, your honor.”
She then adjourned the court.
